Chrome extension

Girlfriend’s Mad: The Page Just Vanished? I Hit the One-Click Restore Button!

Honghao Wang

30 Oct 2025 — 3 min read

“Regret Medicine” — A Chrome Extension to Instantly Restore Closed Tabs

> Scenario:

> Your girlfriend accidentally closes your tabs.

> You suggest: Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+T — she asks: “Where’s that key?!”

> You point to browsing history — she says: “Only shows today’s pages!”

> The “Recently Closed” menu? “Only 8 tabs — not enough!”

> ✅ Solution: Build a Chrome extension — Regret Medicine.

> One click to view recently closed tabs, restore one or all, with favicons and close times. Smooth animations, open-source, customizable.

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Demo

Open popup → restore single → restore all

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✨ Features

List up to 25 recently closed tabs
Restore individual tabs or restore all
Show favicon, title, URL, close time
Smooth animations
Minimal permissions (`sessions`, `tabs`, `favicon`) and no background processes

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⚙️ Core Implementation

Uses three Chrome APIs:

// Get recently closed tabs
chrome.sessions.getRecentlyClosed({ maxResults: 25 }, (sessions) => {});

// Restore a specific tab
chrome.sessions.restore(sessionId, (restoredSession) => {});

// Get favicon URL
function getFaviconURL(url) {
  const faviconUrl = new URL(chrome.runtime.getURL('/_favicon/'));
  faviconUrl.searchParams.set('pageUrl', url);
  faviconUrl.searchParams.set('size', '16');
  return faviconUrl.toString();
}

Reference:

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🔄 Data Recovery Flow

User clicks Restore
Runs `chrome.sessions.restore(sessionId)`
Chrome finds session record
Creates new tab with original URL
Executes callback for success/fail
UI removes restored item

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📂 Project Structure

recently-closed-tabs
├─ manifest.json
├─ popup.html
├─ styles.css
└─ popup.js

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📝 Step-by-Step Installation

Create folder `recently-closed-tabs`
Create `manifest.json` — defines metadata, permissions

{
  "manifest_version": 3,
  "name": "Recently Closed Tabs Manager",
  "version": "1.0",
  "description": "View and restore recently closed tabs",
  "permissions": ["sessions", "tabs", "favicon"],
  "action": {
    "default_popup": "popup.html",
    "default_title": "Recently Closed Tabs"
  }
}

Key Fields

| Field | Purpose |

|-------|---------|

| `manifest_version: 3` | Latest spec for better security/performance |

| `name` | Toolbar/store display name |

| `version` | Extension version (semantic) |

| `description` | Short function description |

| `permissions` | API access:
• `sessions` → recently closed tabs
• `tabs` → restore tabs
• `favicon` → display icons |

| `action` | Toolbar icon behavior and popup page |

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📄 Create `popup.html`



  
    
    
  
  
    
      
        
          
            Recently Closed
            0 tabs
          
          Restore All

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💻 Create `popup.js`

Handles DOM loading, listing recently closed tabs, restoring individually or all:

const elements = {
  tabList: document.getElementById('tabList'),
  restoreAllBtn: document.getElementById('restoreAllBtn'),
  tabCount: document.getElementById('tabCount'),
};

const CONFIG = {
  MAX_TABS: 25,
  MESSAGES: {
    EMPTY: 'No recently closed tabs found',
    RESTORED: 'All tabs have been restored',
  },
};

function init() {
  loadRecentlyClosedTabs();
  elements.restoreAllBtn.addEventListener('click', restoreAllTabs);
}

function loadRecentlyClosedTabs() {
  chrome.sessions.getRecentlyClosed({ maxResults: CONFIG.MAX_TABS }, (sessions) => {
    const tabs = sessions.filter(s => s.tab).map(s => ({
      id: s.tab.sessionId,
      title: s.tab.title || 'Untitled',
      url: s.tab.url,
      closedTime: s.lastModified * 1000,
    }));
    updateTabCount(tabs.length);
    renderTabList(tabs);
  });
}
...
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', init);

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🎨 Create `styles.css`

Responsive, animated UI styling for popup and tab list.

html,
body {
  width: 440px;
  height: 600px;
  font-family: -apple-system, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, sans-serif;
}

.header {
  background: rgba(255,255,255,0.8);
  padding: 20px;
}

.restore-all {
  background: #007aff;
  color: white;
  border-radius: 18px;
}

.tab-item {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  padding: 12px;
  background: #f9f9f9;
}

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🛠 Installation in Developer Mode

Open Chrome → `chrome://extensions/`
Enable Developer mode (top-right)
Click Load unpacked
Select `recently-closed-tabs` folder
Pin extension, click icon to open popup

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📖 Usage

Popup lists recently closed tabs
Click a tab to restore
Click Restore All to reopen all
Empty list shows “No recently closed tabs”

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❓ FAQ

No records? Must have recently closed tabs; after Chrome restart records may clear.
Change number shown? Edit `CONFIG.MAX_TABS` in `popup.js` (max 25).

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🔐 Privacy & Permissions

No data collection
Runs locally via `chrome.sessions` API
Requires minimal permissions

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📎 Links & Source

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With this clean structure and headings, you now have a clear, readable developer guide for building and installing the “Regret Medicine” extension.